british jobs for British workers ?

[WDIK]

gordon browns words?

then they give a major rail contract for "Intercity Express program"

away to the japanese.

it was only worth billions

 

[gremlin16]

Why not give it away.

They have given everything else away, why stop now.

 

[Steve]

We should have kept it to give those 850 agency workers laid off by BMW something do to.

Then again, they'd only end up on strike and the project would always come in behind schedule . . . . Japan is much better than us at manufacturing such machines.

 

[tim west]

I heard it was only the bodies being manufactured in japan, britain has a significant part of the contract.

 

[WDIK]

I heard it was only the bodies being manufactured in japan, britain has a significant part of the contract.

wrong, wife is an exec there

 

[tim west]

I heard it was only the bodies being manufactured in japan, britain has a significant part of the contract.

wrong, wife is an exec there

She'd better ring the BBC and tell them of their error as they reported wrong.

 

[WDIK]

not going to happen

 

[^woody^]

So then, hypothetically, if British workers are uncompetitive, expensive, less skilled, less able to provide the work/service at an equal value ... then should they automatically get the work?

IMO, there is an inherent introverted mentality in a lot of the UK manufacturing industry and this is (or has been) instilled by poor union leadership.

With the unions in this country, everything is a fight, every change is resisted and there is (and was) a failure to plan ahead and adapt to the changing world.

 

[kevplumb]

So then, hypothetically, if British workers are uncompetitive, expensive, less skilled, less able to provide the work/service at an equal value ... then should they automatically get the work?

IMO, there is an inherent introverted mentality in a lot of the UK manufacturing industry and this is (or has been) instilled by poor union leadership.

With the unions in this country, everything is a fight, every change is resisted and there is (and was) a failure to plan ahead and adapt to the changing world.

and you post from the part of the country that was the workshop of the world

it wasn't the unions that ba llsed industry it was sucsessive sh ite goverments on both sides of the fence

along with carp mangement

 

[vinty]

'British jobs for British workers' these words are coming back to haunt Gordon Brown, he must have known that under EU law it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of nationality. Another of his favourite soundbites was ' the days of boom and bust are gone forever' he must of known that under the laws of capitalism you can't have one without the other.

 

[megawatt]

That's why we have such an open immigration policy ... So that everyone becomes British and then we can employ them no problem.

MW

 

[Donkmeister]

if British workers are uncompetitive, expensive, less skilled, less able to provide the work/service at an equal value ... then should they automatically get the work?

The problem there is that many (most?) countries have protectionism firmly in place. For instance, it's perfectly possible to specify British-built Police cars - you just can't admit it. One must instead write the spec to favour the choice of car. It's a fact that it's far easier to fire British employees than those in any other EU country.

On the international stage we Brits are too preoccupied with fair-play and not throwing our weight around.

However. The issue almost always comes back to the TYPE of jobs available. For instance, you get a lot of immigrant workers doing low-paid cleaning jobs in London, while simultaneously plenty of UK-born people who are unqualified to do anything except low-paid cleaning jobs CHOOSE to sit on the dole because they don't want that sort of job. That may sound elitist, but the fact of the matter is we can't all sit in a nice warm office drinking coffee and filing paperwork.

As to the rail contract, what sort of jobs will be available in the UK? Is it skilled/semi-skilled jobs bolting together knock-down kits, suit-wearing design engineers and project managers, or plenty of both?

 

[JohnD]

It's a fact that it's far easier to fire British employees than those in any other EU country.

Have you evidence to support this assertion?

 

[ellal]

Have you evidence to support this assertion?

It's definately the case for the established EU countries, but maybe not so for the recent additions..

France for example...

1. In France where more than 10 employees are affected the obligations to inform and consult are laid down in law and include a minimum number of meetings and timescales to be applied. In the UK there are no specifications about consultation.

2. There is a notice period of redundancies of up to 5 months in France compared to Britain where there is only 3

3. In France where more than 50 employees are at risk the employer has to propose a social compensation plan and provide that to the unions. The employer is obliged to listen to and study suggestions from the unions for mitigating the losses. No such obligation exists in the UK.

4. In France the works committee may appoint an accountant, paid for by the employer, who has 20-22 days to produce a report. The unions in France have the right to challenge the company's decision in a court of law. No such right exists in Britain.

5. In France detailed information also has to be provided to the government who will check that the employer has complied with all obligations and will apply time limits which the employer must follow before issuing notices of termination. No such obligation exists in the UK.

6. In France the costs of implementation of the social plan required in cases of more than 10 employees being made redundant are significant. The social plan is likely to address internal redeployment, retraining, relocation packages and re-employment of spouses and partners.

7. On Average in France it costs £100, 000 to make a French worker redundant. In Britain the maximum allowed for statutory redundancy is £ 5000 for 20 years service.

8. In the UK there is no "right to strike", only immunity against legal recourse providing a lengthy balloting process is followed. In France they have the right to take immediate industrial action and solidarity action to challenge company decisions. In France the right to strike is included in the constitutional rights of all workers.

9. French politicians would be shamed out of office unless they made every effort to protect jobs in key companies like Peugeot.

10. British politicians can wash their hands of quality well paid jobs and claim that the responsibility lies with the market.

 

[JohnD]

OK so you have found some evidence relating to France (where is that document from?)

In your document (9) and (10) are obviously opinion not fact

I have been an elected employee representative on a UK redundancy consultation committee, which also included a union rep, which you seem to say is not obligatory in UK. This is not correct.

But you said "any other EU country." and "fact"

Bit of an exaggeration, maybe?